How Breaking the Fourth Wall Sparks Great Storytelling

Last year I wrote a content piece about live streaming (I was honored that it was a top ten post on Convince and Convert for 2016, and thanks to Brian Fanzo, whom I interviewed in the article). It’s time to break the fourth wall in storytelling. There is no “us” and “them”—there is only a “we.” It is time for companies to take this artifice that gets between themselves and audiences down. It creates the “we.” It says to people that there is no wall between us and the audience. Without your best customers, you have no brand. As I said to the attendees at the Visual Storytelling Institute Conference when I gave my keynote, “When you break the fourth wall to engage your audience, you create magic.” Because when you allow people to participate in the direction of the experience as it happens, you create a shared experience of “we.” This is a storytelling imperative for companies this year. How Can Brands Break the Fourth Wall? Co-Create with Customers Co-create products and services with users. Encourage Customer Storytelling Allow customers to tell their stories of your brand, and use that as your content. Start with small things—video behind-the-scenes tours and Q&A sessions can help, as can asking your users to create content or co-create it with you.

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Author: Kathy Klotz-Guest / Source: Convince and Convert: Social Media Consulting and Content Marketing Consulting

How Breaking the Fourth Wall Sparks Great Storytelling

Your marketing firewall can get between you and your audience.

Last year I wrote a content piece about live streaming (I was honored that it was a top ten post on Convince and Convert for 2016, and thanks to Brian Fanzo, whom I interviewed in the article). The piece focused on how brands are finding success by letting users in on behind-the-scenes events. It’s also something I wrote about in my book, Stop Boring Me! It’s time to break the fourth wall in storytelling. That’s key to brand success in 2017.

Company walls are porous anyway. Whatever happens in companies does not stay there. There is no “us” and “them”—there is only a “we.” It is time for companies to take this artifice that gets between themselves and audiences down.

Break the Fourth Wall

Breaking the fourth wall happens in performance when an actor (improviser, comedian, etc.) interacts with the audience and brings them into the performance. It creates the “we.” It says to people that there is no wall between us and the audience. And, in the corporate space, it signals that there is no wall between the company and its customers.

Truly, there isn’t—there is only the shared “we.” Improvisers (I am a businessperson and an improviser) know this well. Without your best customers, you have no brand. They own the brand, so it’s time to let them in on where it makes sense. As I said to the attendees at the Visual Storytelling Institute Conference when I gave my keynote, “When you break the fourth wall to engage your audience, you create magic.” Because when you allow people to participate in the direction of the experience as it happens, you create a shared experience of “we.”

This is a storytelling imperative for companies this year.